Two Tuesday Quotes: Teddy and Tom

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Don’t hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
Theodore Roosevelt

Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.
Thomas Jefferson

On Teddy:

Whenever he managed to spend time in North Dakota, Roosevelt became more and more alarmed by the damage that was being done to the land and its wildlife. He witnessed the virtual destruction of some big game species, such as bison and bighorn sheep . Overgrazing destroyed the grasslands and with them the habitats for small mammals and songbirds. Conservation increasingly became one of his major concerns. “We have fallen heirs to the most glorious heritage a people ever received, and each one must do his part if we wish to show that the nation is worthy of its good fortune.”  – USA-Presidents.info

On Tom:
More than a mere renaissance man, Jefferson may actually have been a new kind of man. He was fluent in five languages and able to read two others. He wrote, over the course of his life, over sixteen thousand letters. He was acquainted with nearly every influential person in America, and a great many in Europe as well. He was a lawyer, agronomist, musician, scientist, philosopher, author, architect, inventor, and statesman. Though he never set foot outside of the American continent before adulthood, he acquired an education that rivaled the finest to be attained in Europe. He was clearly the foremost American son of the Enlightenment. – USHistory.org

Quick Shot: Considering a Cup

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I found this while reading through some websites about Buddhism. Basically it was a FAQ regarding questions about what Buddhists believe. Hopefully you will find it interesting and maybe it will be a topic of discussion amongst family and friends.

Courtesy of BuddhaNet. Actual link can be found here.

Good Questions Good Answers

I suppose you think your religion is right and all others are wrong.
 

No Buddhist who understands the Buddha’s teaching thinks that other religions are wrong. No-one who has made a genuine effort to examine other religions with an open mind could think like that either. The first thing you notice when you study the different religions is just how much they have in common. All religions acknowledge that man’s present state is unsatisfactory. All believe that a change of attitude and behaviour is needed if man’s situation is to improve. All teach an ethics that includes love, kindness, patience, generosity and social responsibility and all accept the existence of some form of Absolute.

They use different languages, different names and different symbols to describe and explain these things; and it is only when they narrow- mindedly cling to their one way of seeing things that religious tolerance, pride and self-righteousness arise.

Imagine an Englishman, a Frenchman, a Chinese and an Indonesian all looking at a cup. The Englishman says, “That is a cup.” The Frenchman answers, “No it’s not. It’s a tasse.” The Chinese comments, “You are both wrong. It’s a pei.” And the Indonesian laughs at the others and says “What a fool you are. It’s a cawan.” The Englishman get a dictionary and shows it to the others saying, “I can prove that it is a cup. My dictionary says so.” “Then your dictionary is wrong,” says the Frenchman “because my dictionary clearly says it is a tasse.” The Chinese scoffs at them. “My dictionary is thousands of years older than yours, so my dictionary must be right. And besides, more people speak Chinese than any other language, so it must be pei.” While they are squabbling and arguing with each other, a Buddhist comes up and drinks from the cup. After he has drunk, he says to the others, “Whether you call it a cup, a tasse, a pei or a cawan, the purpose of the cup is to be used. Stop arguing and drink, stop squabbling and refresh your thirst”. This is the Buddhist attitude to other religions.

Giving Made Easy

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Imaging you are driving the road ways of Jacksonville, FL and you come upon a homeless man or some other experience which triggers thankfulness of your condition along with a desire to help. Emotions can be tricky wolves as once they pass the power to react diminishes or the sentiment itself may be forgotten.

A benefit of our technological achievements is the ability to manage our finances remotely. With the aid of our mobile devices we can check account balances, transfer funds and donate to causes. I received a tweet this morning from The Sulzbacher Center (@thewayhome). If you are not familiar with this organization, here is who they are as stated on their website.

We are Northeast Florida’s only provider of comprehensive services for homeless men, women and children.We are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.We serve nutritious meals and offer safe shelter. But that is just the beginning. We provide outstanding health care and high-quality children’s programs. Our job placement assistance and life skills programs equip men and women for employment and for success. We offer something simple, but important—hope.

The contents of the tweet were simple and straight forward.

Text “wayhome” to 20222 to make a quick and easy $5 donation to the Sulzbacher Center via your wireless provider. It’s fun.

This is something you are surely familiar with as it is what groups such as the Red Cross have utilized to obtain donations for catastrophic events such as the earthquake in Japan. Yet it is something that had slipped my mind and a thing which seems so basic. Such a great use of Twitter, to send out daily, weekly or monthly requests. The financial benefit to Sulzbacher is further spelled out on their site: $1 is the cost of one meal. Through a text while in your car, out to dinner or walking the local mall you can feed five people.

I would encourage you to follow Sulzbacher or another local/global group which you would like to help. Contact them to ask if they have such a feature. Please share any giving opportunities you have come across.